


Journey

by Jain



Category: The Queen's Thief - Megan Whalen Turner
Genre: Developing Relationship, M/M, POV Third Person, Past Tense, Yuletide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-17
Updated: 2018-12-17
Packaged: 2019-09-21 07:19:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17039276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jain/pseuds/Jain
Summary: Kamet and Costis trade stories on their voyage to Roa.





	Journey

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Roxie Ann (pluvial_poetry)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/pluvial_poetry/gifts).



In Kamet's dreams, he walked down the paths of a garden that was a strange mixture of Nahuseresh's country estate and the Attolian palace gardens, and blossoms sprang into full bloom at his approach. He drifted awake to the familiar sound of rain striking wood and the unfamiliar sound of it striking the ocean outside his cabin's tiny porthole. Another sound, as well--a knock so quiet that he almost didn't hear it over the rain.

"Come in," he called.

Costis entered and frowned a little at him. "It's mid-morning. Are you ill?"

Kamet looked in surprise at the gray light trickling through the porthole. It was certainly dimmer than usual for the time of day, but as a slave, he'd have woken early regardless of a bit of overcast sky. "I'm fine," he said. "I suppose I was just tired."

"Breakfast has been cleared away already, but I saved some for you, if you're hungry." Kamet's stomach growled in response, and Costis smiled. "I'll be right back."

He returned momentarily with the promised breakfast held carefully in his big hands: a couple of thick slices of buttered bread, a small bowl of dried figs, and a cup of goat's milk. Kamet raised his eyebrows at the last. The ship had only a single goat on board, and its milk was guarded jealously by the cook.

"Tea or coffee would've gone cold, and I wanted you to have something filling even if you couldn't manage real food," Costis said, as though the "why" of the goat's milk mattered more than the "how."

Kamet's stomach growled again and he shrugged inwardly. Let Costis keep his secrets; Kamet just wanted his breakfast. He ate slowly and neatly, cautious of getting crumbs in his bunk, while Costis sat cross-legged on the floor across from the bunk in easy silence.

"Should I leave you to your work?" Costis asked when Kamet had finished. Another surprise, that Costis had noticed Kamet's quiet daily routine of working on his account for Relius, though in retrospect it shouldn't have been one. Costis had always been more observant than expected.

Kamet shook his head. "The lighting's bad for it, and I don't want to waste lamp oil in the daytime. My work will keep until there's sun again." He anticipated the next question and said, "I'll trade you an Immakuk and Ennikar story for one of yours that I haven't heard yet."

"Done," Costis said promptly. He nodded at the empty bowl and cup. "I should return those to the galley first. Think of a good story while I'm gone."

Not much thinking was required; the choice was practically made for him. When Costis returned, Kamet said, "This is the story of Immakuk and the Great Flood."

Costis grinned, his gaze flicking to the rain sheeting the porthole, and lowered himself to the floor again. It hadn't mattered while Kamet was only eating breakfast, but it felt wrong to make Costis sit on the hard floor to hear a story while Kamet lounged in his soft, warm bunk. He drew his legs up to make room and said, "You can sit up here if you like."

Costis gave him a brief, searching look, and accepted his offer. They settled side by side, backs against the wall, and Kamet began his story. He felt his throat tighten a little when he came to the part where Immakuk encountered the two scorpion men, whom he understood to be husbands, guarding the Road of the Sun. Kamet had forgotten about that passage until he had to tell it, thinking only of the appropriateness of the larger story. But he got through it reasonably smoothly, and the rest of the story was exciting enough to distract Costis from noticing any self-consciousness or awkwardness on Kamet's part.

He hoped, anyway.

"Do men marry in Mede, then?" Costis asked curiously, dashing that hope in an instant.

"No." Kamet cleared his throat and pretended desperately that he wasn't blushing. "They may have done so hundreds of years ago when these stories were first written...no one really knows for sure. But I think it's more likely that they didn't. The guardians in this story are _monsters_ , after all. It only makes sense that they behave in ways that people don't."

"Ah. And are there no Mede stories in which human men--or women, I suppose--love each other in that way?"

"Love? Yes. Some. But not marry."

"Just as it is in Attolia," Costis said.

"So."

There was a heavy silence in which Kamet both wished to know what Costis was thinking and was very glad that he didn't know. And then Costis said, in an oddly hesitant voice, "I promised you a story you hadn't heard, as well, but I'm not sure which one to choose. I could tell you a story about a...friend I made shortly after joining the guard. Or I could tell you one about a more recent friend of mine." He turned to look at Kamet with serious eyes, and Kamet's breath caught. "I'm not certain if you'd like that second story, though, and I wouldn't want to tell it if it didn't please you."

Kamet's heart was pounding so loudly in his ears that it drowned out the rain. He swallowed and tried to force his whirling thoughts into some sort of order. He knew what Costis was asking, and that was more than a little terrifying. Yet at the same time, Costis was _asking_. This wasn't anything he was trying to force on Kamet or trick him into. It was something he'd waited to mention until they were friends, until Kamet knew him and trusted him, until Kamet had saved his life and he'd saved Kamet's in return.

Even now, Costis was waiting. If Kamet said "no" or "I'm not ready" or "not yet," then Costis would follow his lead. And in the end, that was what gave Kamet the courage to reach out his hand to Costis's, lying between them, and say, "Tell me the second story."


End file.
